


the cord, his life

by Xalts



Category: Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
Genre: M/M, Vignette, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 11:10:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15728214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xalts/pseuds/Xalts
Summary: Found in my Google docs, written around April.--He swallows, just once, and puts one hand on Tom’s shoulder. He knows he could be about to die. Because despite everything, Peter knows more than Tom thinks he does.





	the cord, his life

“Peter… Tell me some good things about Tom Ripley.”

Peter moves to sit up, lets Tom push him down. He feels the weight on the mattress as Tom settles against his side, the warmth of Tom’s face against his shoulder blade. “Just tell me some nice things,” Tom says, and Peter thinks, where to begin? How does one begin to describe Tom Ripley?

He begins with the obvious. “Tom is talented.” Feels Tom’s smile through his shirt. It’s a sensation as unique and all-encompassing as Tom himself; an experience Peter wants to live in. “Tom is tender,” he continues, half-turning on his side; he can just catch a glimpse of Tom’s back in his peripheral vision. “Tom is beautiful.”

Tom laughs, his face hidden but the sob held back carried through by his voice. “You’re such a liar,” he says to Peter’s back. Peter’s heart swells in his chest, desperate to roll over, to hold Tom close to him and comfort him.

“Tom is a mystery,” he continues, and it’s true; as much as he loves Tom, he knows so little about him beyond scant interests and whatever parts of his personality Tom has deigned to gift him. But still Peter pushes his own desires aside, knowing that this is for Tom, what Tom needs to stabilise himself, to push himself back into the person called ‘Tom Ripley’. And so, “Tom is not a nobody. Tom has secrets he doesn’t want to tell me, and I wish he would. Tom has nightmares. That’s not a good thing.”

Peter pushes himself upright slightly, hindered by the weight of Tom against his spine. “Tom has someone who loves him,” he says, turning his head to look at the back of Tom’s. “That is a good…”

Peter sees the cord in Tom’s hands. The tie from his dressing gown, woven between Tom’s fingers, and Peter feels his blood run cold.

He swallows, just once, and puts one hand on Tom’s shoulder. He knows he could be about to die. Because despite everything, Peter knows more than Tom thinks he does.

Back in Rome, Marge had told Peter everything she knew about Tom and Dickie. Meredith Logue seeing Dickie in Rome, the night at the opera, the way Tom had acted around the Rome police… Peter didn’t want it to be true, but he could understand Marge’s suspicions, see the links that no one else was privy to…

So Peter is risking everything when he runs his hands down Tom’s arms, rolling on the bed to take Tom’s hands in his, ignoring the tremor in his fingers as he entwines them with Tom’s, with the cord, with his life, and whispers, “Tom killed Dickie Greenleaf.”

Tom sucks in a gasp of air which becomes a choked sob. He’s motionless on the bed, but Peter can feel him shaking. He tightens his grasp on Tom’s hands, holding him steady. “Tom killed Freddie, too. But it’s okay. Because it was just what he had to do.”

“Peter,” Tom whispers, and then his voice catches in his throat and he sobs again. He lets Peter take the cord and toss it on the floor. He lets Peter pull him backwards onto the bed and cradle his shoulders, passing warmth between the two.

“Tom just wants to be free from this. And that’s fine. That’s what we can do.”

They lay there, silent, for a handful of seconds, before Tom turns to look Peter in the face. The coldness of his eyes is startling. Peter keeps his breathing steady, like trying not to spook a fawn.

_ Or a bear _ .

“Meredith thinks you’re Dickie, doesn’t she?” Peter asks, finally, and Tom nods. “That’s why you want me to stay hidden.” Another nod.

Peter makes his decision. He wants to make it to Greece alive.

“I’ll stay in here for the whole trip, if that’s what you want,” Peter Smith-Kingsley says to Tom Ripley.

“I’d like that very much,” Tom says, and smiles like a snake.


End file.
